Scolecite
by soodohnimh
Summary: He knew it was wrong and he did it anyway. Renatus Haunts Aristea.


Note: This story is based on the novel Chosen by Shayla Morgansen. She owns these characters, not me. Many thanks to my lovely beta reader. :)

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He knew it was wrong and he did it anyway. It was wrong ethically, morally, and legally, but he wanted to see her face as she dreamed of him...

Each student, in their lives before coming to his home, had noticed a pebble etched with the Elm Stone emblem. The stone had been placed in their path by the White Elm, but its recognition required the unique perception of a powerful sorcerer. The awareness of this magical item confirmed their spot at the school and by touching it, a portion of their distinct essence and unconscious talent was absorbed into its smooth surface and settled deep in the ridges of the symbol. Each student's stone was whisked away after they were contacted by a member of the White Elm and now resided in a locked glass case in Renatus's office.

Dream energy was powerful at any age, but having all the most powerful young men and women on earth under one roof was dangerous. The energy needed to be contained and released gradually by someone powerful enough to control it and control themselves with the knowledge of the most personal and private information someone can have. Dreaming also opened them up to attack from Lisandro and others. They were all gifted, but many were not familiar with the dark and illegal means of invasion that Lisandro might try, and unable to protect themselves during sleep. So for the betterment of the school and for their own protection, their dream energy was magically channeled into their stone.

Thirty seven stones were laid out in front of him. He looked at all of them and thought of their corresponding student. Each of them dreamed. Most of the dreams were what you would expect of people of their age, which was not too far off his own age. As expected, many of the boys and a few of the girls dreamed of Emmanuelle. No wonder, she was intelligent, talented, and ravishing. He too was a favorite of many of the girls. He knew the effect he had on women. Except for one of them, he was able to ignore their thoughts of him, and do his job. All except for her.

Aristea's dreams had taken on a different quality since she had been serving detention with him. Prior to her punishment for actively scrying, she dreamt mostly of her family, of both her sister and those she had lost. His appearance in her dreams had been fleeting and innocent. Innocent compared to some of the other girls, especially Sterling, whose dreams of him were distinctly graphic. But Aristea's dreams of Renatus consisted of her wishes that he would notice her across the dining hall or that he might escort her to her next class, his hand resting on her lower back guiding her through the hallways. Nowhere near the explicit dreams of her roommate, but certainly inappropriate for a teacher and student relationship.

However, after she began spending hours alone with him, her thoughts of him changed and deepened and became more specific and far more arousing to him than Sterling's wish to for him to fuck her underneath the large rowan tree in the garden. Whether it was the contents of Aristea's dreams or Aristea herself that called to him, he didn't know anymore.

It was past midnight. Only a few candles lit his study. He reached out with his mind and scryed the occupants of his home. Only a few students and council members were still awake. A few boys were studying. A girl was writing home to her mother. Glen was on night's watch.

Renatus touched the first one, drawing his index finger over the symbol and drew Hiroko's unconscious thoughts into him and then released them safely. Aside from some bittersweet dreams of her mother, Hiroko's pebble was easily tended and didn't trouble him much.

A few of the other stones were needing his attention. A couple had turned an inky black, that as he touched them revealed their secrets. The terror of being chased down a wet alley by a gang of thugs, an abysmal fear of failure at the school, evil wishes to use dark magic on a fellow student. Normally he wasn't empathic as well, but extracting the contents wore on him. Fionnuala had noticed that he was more tired than he normally was and that he wasn't eating enough. She knew that the dreams of these students weren't always simple bad dreams. He told her that he agreed to the job, he was good at it, and he'd handle it.

The rest of the pebbles needed a brief touch, his fingers grazing along the surfaces and he released other, more harmless thoughts. A crafting class that never ended, teeth falling out for no reason, forgetting the recitation of verses in class, displacing home to see Mum and Dad. Sterling's didn't need to be drained tonight, but as had happened a few times, he found her stone hovering three inches above the rest of them, quivering with energy, and simply needed to be pushed back down into place.

He saved Aristea for last. Not only because it was the hardest for him but also the most fascinating. He knew she was asleep in her bed. He grazed the surface of her stone with his finger and as he placed Aristea's stone flat in his palm, he felt her dream start in real-time. He felt her terror, a terror he knew all too well because of his own loss. The sudden, looming blackness of the sky, the roar of the wind and water, the shattering crack of the tree as it split and fell. The searing ache of losing her parents and brother was nearly too much to handle as was the guilt of surviving along with her sister. She pictured her sister clutched to her side, sheltered together under her ward.

But after her detention with him, he started getting glimpses of her dreaming of being inside his office with him. Sitting next to him at his desk, she would stare at the muscles in his forearm as he wrote his correspondence. She dreamt of tracing her fingers over the edge of his jaw and the tendons in his neck. Sometimes she thought of pulling his hair away from his neck and touching the same area with her lips. It was surreal to feel what she was feeling, especially since he was the object of her infatuation. Yet he was drawn to her as much as she was to him.

Tonight though, she took it a step further and dream Renatus reached for her and pulled her onto his lap. He thought of how she might look if this were really happening and in a moment of rashness, he wanted to really see her face as she dreamed of him.

He sat in his chair, holding her stone between his clasped hands, thought deeply of where she was in his home, concentrated hard on her face and her mind, and Haunted her.

He appeared in her room and surveyed the four beds lined up against the wall. It was dark, the room only illuminated by small night lights in both bathrooms. All the young women were sleeping deeply. Hiroko was curled in a fetal position, tucked under her covers. Xanthe was flat on her back, straight as a board. Sterling was snoring slightly, splayed diagonally across her bed, half out of her covers. And there was Aristea.

She laid half on her side, half on her stomach, half her face was pressed into her pillow. One arm was underneath her head and the other was curled in front of her, cuddling her stuffed….bunny? He smiled at her sweetness and her innocence, even though he knew that she was the best student under his roof. Aside from himself, she had the most intrinsic talent of any sorcerer he knew. And if he was honest with himself, he wasn't even sure that he could best her once she found her stride. She was also stunningly beautiful, mostly because she didn't realize she was so fascinating. One of her slender feet was sticking out from underneath her blanket and as he approached her, he felt the urge to bend his knee and kiss the taut, flawless skin pulled tight over the slender bones of her ankle.

Coming closer, even with the limited light in the room, he saw that her face was slightly flushed and she was breathing heavy. Haunting her and still feeling and seeing what she was dreaming from the stone pressed between his palms in his corporeal form in his office, he could tell that she was picturing herself still on his lap, but now sitting astride him, holding his face between her palms, her lips so close to his, he could almost feel her quick low breaths against his chin.

He sat down in the empty space to her side on the bed. He hovered his hand inches over her hand that was clutching her stuffed animal. He wanted to touch her long fingers and wanted to feel her fingertips on him. He wanted to feel her nails trailing along his arms, his chest, scratching along his back as he kissed her. He wanted to touch her now. He knew he could do it without possessing her or harming her as she slept. If he could only keep his desires in check…

The mattress dipped further as turned his body towards her and placed his arms on either side of her body to lean down over her, his dark robes brushing against her bare arms. He came very close to her ear, his lips barely touching the soft peachy skin of her earlobe and whispered, "Aristea". She moaned and pushed her hips against the mattress. He felt her rush of desire as it ran though him as well.

He held himself above her, breathing in the sweet scent of her shampoo and underneath that was the familiar scent of a natural scryer. She seemed so familiar to him. He understood her better than she knew. Her wards were strong, but being two of the same kind, he could read her. He could see her. And she was right in front of him, so close, so young…

He could have pushed for more. Feeling her move suggestively when she was beneath him on her bed was terribly tempting. But she was a student and he wanted more from her than to grope her like a criminal. Also just then Hiroko turned over. While none of them would be able to see him in the room, he didn't want Aristea's roommates to notice her breathing heavy and grinding her hips into her mattress.

He regretfully withdrew from her and opened his eyes. He was back in his study, her stone between his hands and a pressing need under his robe. He took a moment to collect himself after being outside of his body for a time, then stood. He tested his legs beneath him and moved to return her stone in line with all the others. He gently placed it on the red, crushed velvet and drew his finger over the surface once again.

He knew what he did was wrong. He wouldn't do it again. He was sure of it.

It was only twenty-four hours until tomorrow night…


End file.
